nvitation, I
should have to accept all invitations or give terrible offence all over
the place. I'm here a sick man and my mother's an invalid. And I merely
want to be saved from my friends and have a quiet time with the old
lady. Of course if Sir Anthony is offended, I'm only too sorry, and I
beg you to assure him that I never intended the slightest discourtesy.
The mere idea of it distresses me."

The explanation was reasonable, the apology frank. Sir Anthony received
them both grumpily. He had his foibles. He set his invitations to
dinner in a separate category from those of the rag-tag and bobtail of
Wellingsford society. So for the sake of principle he continued to damn
the fellow.

On the other hand, for the sake of principle, reparation for injustice,
I continued to like the fellow and found pleasure in his company. For
one thing, I hankered after the smoke and smell and din of the front,
and Boyce succeeded more than anyone else in satisfying my appetite.
While he talked, as he did freely with me alone, I got near to the grim
essence of things. Also, with the aid of rough military maps, he made
actions and strategical movements of which newspaper accounts had given
me but a confused notion, as clear as if I had been a chief of staff.
Often he went to considerable trouble in obtaining special information.
He appeared to set himself out to win my esteem. Now a cripple is very
sensitive to kindness. I could not reject his overtures. What
interested motive could he have in seeking out a useless hulk like me?
On the first opportunity I told Betty of the new friendship, having a
twinge or two of conscience lest it might appear to her disloyal.

"But why in the world shouldn't you see him, dear?" she said,
open-eyed. "He brings the breath of battle to you and gives you fresh
life. You're looking ever so much better the last few days. The only
thing is," she added, turning her head away, "that I don't want to run
the risk of meeting him again."

Naturally I took precautions against such an occurrence. The
circumstances of their last meeting at my house lingered unpleasantly
in my mind. Perhaps, for Betty's sake, I ought to have turned a cold
shoulder on Boyce. But when you have done a man a foul injustice for
years, you must make him some kind of secret reparation. So, by making
him welcome, I did what I could.

Now I don't know whether I ought to set down a trivial incident
mentioned in my diary under the date of